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doi:10.1016/S0160-7383(03)00045-8
INTRODUCTION
The marketing of Third World countries for tourism is increasingly
common, and the fastest growing destinations are in these regions.
Currently, about 30% of all international tourist arrivals are in the
Third World and this proportion has nearly tripled over the past 20
years (World Tourism Organization 1999). However, over the last few
decades, there has been mounting criticism of the portrayal of these
Charlotte Echtner completed this research while a Ph.D student in the Faculty of Management, University of Calgary (Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4. Email <cechtner@hotmail.com>). Her areas of interest include destination image and Third World tourism. Pushkala Prasad holds the Zankel Chair in Management and the Liberal Arts at Skidmore College,
USA. Her areas of expertise include organization theory and qualitative research.
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were chosen as a unit of analysis because they focus attention on specific natural and built attractions at the destination. Nouns are also
used to label the tourists and hosts, or the actors, in the tourism experience. Verbs, the second unit of analysis, are important as they are used
to convey the range of actions while at the destination. The last category, descriptors, create atmosphere by describing the attractions,
hosts, and tourists in a certain wayfor example, the ancient temple,
the simple people, the adventurous tourist, etc. In order to relate to
the verbal analysis, the visual analysis similarly focused on the attractions, actors, actions, and atmosphere portrayed in the pictures.
A number of cross-checks were used throughout the research. For
example, at certain stages in the analysis, grouping procedures were
used to uncover themes in the data (especially with regard to actions
and atmosphere). These grouping procedures and themes were independently verified by other researchers. In addition, the verbal and
visual analyses were conducted by two separate researchers to avoid
cross-contamination of results. Further, since the analysis of the pictures was somewhat more interpretive than that of the text (which simply involved an inventory of the nouns, verbs, and descriptors), another
researcher completed an analysis of a random subset of the pictures
to cross-check these results.
Overall, the contents of the 115 brochures produced a pool of nearly
10,000 words, consisting of 5,408 nouns, 1,566 verbs, and 2,961 descriptors. In addition, 678 pictures were examined for the visual analysis.
A complete description of this data set is discussed elsewhere (Echtner
2002). For the current discussion, the most relevant and important
results are not the individual components of each countrys representation but the emergence of patterns across destinations. Specifically,
three clusters of Third World destinations are revealed based on significant similarities in the most common types of attractions, actors
(hosts and tourists), actions, and atmosphere portrayed in the verbal
and visual components of their brochures. As shown across the top of
Table 1, the three country clusters consist of the Oriental countries
of China, Egypt, India, Turkey, and Thailand; the sea/sand countries
of Cuba, Fiji, and Jamaica; and the frontier countries of Costa Rica,
Ecuador, Kenya and Namibia (Thailand and Costa Rica exhibit a tendency to crossover between groupings, as is explained below).
As illustrated in Table 1, the first characteristic that varies among
the country clusters is the emphasis placed on natural versus built
attractions. The portrayals of the Oriental countries stress the latter
attractions, especially ruins, religious sites, palaces, and monuments
from the ancient past, plus certain gateway cities. In contrast, the representations of the frontier cluster emphasize various natural attractions almost to the complete exclusion of anything built. In between
these two extremes, the images of the sea/sand cluster provide a mix
of natural and built attractions. In this cluster, the former focus mainly
on beaches, ocean, and an island setting, whereas the primary built
attractions are modern resorts. The crossover country of Thailand
mixes sea/sand images with the past built attractions emphasized in
the Oriental countries. In a similar vein, the portrayal of Costa Rica
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Sea/Sand
Representation
China, Egypt,
India, Turkey
Thailand
Attractions
Actors
Hosts
Tourists
Actions
Hosts
Tourists
Frontier
Cuba, Fiji,
Jamaica
Costa
Rica
nature:
beaches,
ocean, island;
man-made:
resorts
Frontier
plus:
beaches,
ocean
more males, in
peasant dress,
indistinct/stoic
expressions
Oriental
plus:
females,
smiles
visitors,
travelersmixed
gender groups
Oriental
more
Frontier
females,in
uniform/
costume,
smiling
vactioners,
Frontier
sunseekers,
lovers,
sportspersonscouples in
swimwear
no interaction:
objects to gaze
upon
Oriental
but
some:serve,
entertain
discover, journey, only:
experience,
discover,
indulge
indulge
interaction:
serve,
entertain,
welcome
indulge, do
(many
activities)
natural,
pristine,
tropical,
verdant,
gentle,
amiable, best
Ecuador,
Kenya,
Namibia
nature:
wildlife,
parks/reserves,
landscape
more males,
in tribal dress,
mixed stoic,
smiling
adventurers,
explorers,
nature
lovers
mixed gender
groups
Frontier
no interaction:
objects to gaze
upon
Frontier
plus:
indulge,
do
Frontier
plus:
tropical
verdant
discover,
observe
natural,
pristine,
strange,
famous, best
Only the most common representations across country clusters provided: for full details
of data by country, refer to Echtner (2002).
interjects some sea/sand images into a focus on the natural environment that is characteristic of the frontier countries.
Moving on to the next rows of the table, the actors portrayed also
vary among the country clusters. Oriental hosts are more often men,
usually in rural settings in simple ethnic dress (such as peasants). Their
facial expressions tend to be indistinct or stoic. In contrast, the
sea/sand hosts are commonly smiling and more frequently female.
These hosts are usually found in a resort setting, dressed in the often
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alluring uniforms or costumes that identify them as servers and entertainers. In the frontier cluster, hosts are greatly de-emphasized. When
they are portrayed, there is a slight tendency towards males, with a
mixture of stoic or smiling expressions. Dress is usually tribal (such as
bare chests, painted bodies, spears) and hosts are portrayed as part of
the surrounding wild landscape. The crossover country of Thailand
provides an amalgam of Oriental and sea/sand hosts, exhibiting more
smiling peasants and females than are present in the other Oriental
countries.
Whereas hosts are frequently portrayed in the brochures, tourists
are represented in more limited ways. In both the Oriental and frontier
clusters, they tend to be pictured in mixed gender groups in no special
form of dress. However, when described in the text some differences
emerge. Tourists to the Oriental countries are labeled visitors or travelers, while in the frontier countries they are adventurers, explorers,
and nature lovers. In the sea/sand countries, many different terms are
used to describe them, including vacationers, sunseekers, lovers, and
various types of sportspersons (for example, scuba divers and golfers).
These sea/sand tourists are predominantly pictured as couples in
swimwear lounging near the pool or beach. Both Thailand and Costa
Rica do not exhibit any crossovers with representations of sea/sand
tourists, remaining entrenched in the Oriental and frontier clusters,
respectively.
Not only do the characteristics of the tourists and hosts vary among
country clusters, but their actions are also different. As shown in Table
1, Oriental and frontier hosts primarily serve as passive objects to be
gazed upon. They are attractions for, rather than interacting with, the
tourists. On the other hand, sea/sand hosts are represented as ready
and willing to serve, entertain and welcome. In the crossover country
of Thailand, hosts are portrayed in the act of serving/entertaining
much more frequently than in other Oriental destinations. However,
Costa Rica does not alter the portrayal of its hosts from the frontier
image.
As to the tourists, in the Oriental countries they are engaged in discovering, journeying, experiencing, and indulging. While the actions
of the tourists in the frontier countries also focus on discovery, in this
case, they also concentrate on observing the natural surroundings.
Moreover, in such a savage environment, indulgence is considerably
de-emphasized. In contrast, indulgence is the core activity presented
to the tourists in the sea/sand country cluster. In addition, there is an
emphasis on doing. Here, overall expectations are created of destinations full of various recreational activities and indulgences. The
crossover country of Costa Rica combines all of the activities of the
frontier and sea/sand tourists. Thailand, on the other hand, focuses on
only two activities: discoveryan action characteristic of the Oriental
countries and indulgencean action crossing over between the Oriental and the sea/sand clusters.
Besides variations in terms of attractions, actors, and actions, unique
atmospheres are revealed for each country cluster. As the last row of
Table 1 illustrates, Oriental countries are distinctly characterized by an
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the distinctions drawn between the First and Third Worlds. Specifically,
postcolonial theory provides a critical perspective that draws attention
to the power structures constructed and maintained via forms of discourse. As Gandhi points out, discourses exercise power through representation; they control and delimit both the mode and the means of
representation in a given society (1998:77). According to postcolonial
theory, colonial discoursethe form of discourse popularized during
the colonial eras of expansion and exploitationcontinues to dominate any form of representation of the Third World by the First World
(Mishra and Hodge 1991).
Saids (1978) seminal work, Orientalism, is one of the first detailed
examinations of colonial discourse and is generally regarded as the
principle catalyst for the development of postcolonial theory. In his
book, he demonstrates how the texts produced during the colonization
of the East created a type of colonial discourse, which he labeled
Orientalism. He contends that its language was used to portray the
East as mysterious, exotic, sensual, splendid, cruel, despotic, and sly.
According to Said, such discourse reflected an ideology which
expounded the superiority of the Western world. A power relation was
defined by creating a boundary between the West and the East through
a series of hierarchical binary oppositions, where the former was represented as forward and advancing, with the latter thus being systematically constituted as backward and stagnant (or decaying). He concludes that such juxtapositions were used to encourage and justify the
exploration, exploitation, colonization, and civilization of the East.
It should be noted that the term Oriental has a mixed history in
Western scholarship. For most of the 19th and early 20th century, it
was a relatively commonplace word used to refer to specific geographical areas and cultures typically comprising all of the Middle East and
most of Asia. Saids work brought the term into provocative prominence by uncovering both its pejorative and romantic elements that
emerged in the complicated encounter between the colonial European
powers and the Middle East. This papers use of the term refers to
specific geographical sites, but it also carries many of the connotations
first surfaced by Said.
Over the past two decades, postcolonial theory has evolved by examining many other forms and facets of colonial discourse. Perhaps the
most comprehensive compilation of influential postcolonial theory writings is available in the volume entitled The Post-Colonial Studies Reader
(Ashcroft et al 1995). This substantial collection of studies provides an
indication of the extensive usage of postcolonial theory by a variety
of disciplines. More recently, Saids notion of Orientalism has been
expanded by others into that of Tropicalization, a term used to
denote a set of discursive bifurcations between the cultures from socalled temperate and tropical zones. While Tropicalization is seen as
being more prevalent with respect to Caribbean and Latin-American
countries, it also constitutes tropical cultures as sensual, luxuriant, pleasure-seeking, and profoundly idle (Aparicio and Chavez-Silverman
2000).
From a broader ontological perspective, postcolonial theorists draw
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Said further notes that colonial discourse about the Orient inevitably
suggests that these places are past their prime: [t]heir great moments
were in the past; they are useful in the modern world only because
the powerful and up-to-date empires have effectively brought them out
of the wretchedness of their decline (1978:35). Thus, the modern
First World tourists are encouraged to feast on the past built glories
of these Third World destinations, for apparently these featuresand
not their present day stateare the most worthy of their gaze.
According to Said, negative themes surrounding the Orient are also
present in colonial discourse, including cruelty, deceit, laziness, and
despotism. While these themes are widely emphasized in many other
current representations of the Third World (including the media,
popular literature, cinema), they are largely eliminated from tourism
marketing. A similar lack of negative imagery and sanitized representations in Third World marketing has already been noted in previous
research (Britton 1979; Dann 1996a; Wilson 1994). These omissions
are to be expected since tourism promotion, like most forms of marketing, is designed to sell a product. As such, the myths borrow only selective marketable stereotypes from Oriental representations, by embellishing positive aspects and de-emphasizing those aspects not
advantageous to the myth. In the process, the tourist is attracted to the
destination by a set of pleasurable images. But these selected marketing
representations are nonetheless instrumental in reinforcing ideologies
that ... are grounded in [the] relations of power, dominance and subordination which characterize the global system (Morgan and Pritchard 1998:3).
Specifically, the myth of the Unchanged reinforces several binary
relationships between the First and Third Worlds. These binaries
include changed/unchanged, modern/ancient, and advancing/
decaying. As a result, there are necessary and significant silences surrounding any aspects of change, modernity, and advancement (the
latter two terms always being defined from the Western perspective).
Overall, the myth draws upon a highly pre-defined caricature of these
places; it hinges on the embellished essences and aesthetic stereotypes
of Orientalism. As such, the representations must ensure that these
destinations remain fixed in a time and place that is classically and
pleasingly Oriental.
In more general terms, postcolonial theory suggests that the representation of the Third World in any context (whether popular literature, the media, or tourism promotion) cannot be separated from colonial discourse. Seen from this perspective, the current images are
simply reiterative, reflecting and reinforcing historically embedded colonial myths. As Gandhi points out, there is a persisting Western interest in the...production of what we might call exotic culture[s]
(1998:5960). Therefore, tourism representations adopt the myths and
also serve as another vehicle that continues to perpetuate them.
Taken to an ontological level, the implication is that social reality
continues to be defined and represented from a First World perspective. As Said argues, Orientalism is a style of thought based upon an
ontological and epistemological distinction made between the Orient
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and (most of the time) the Occident ... because of Orientalism the
Orient was not (and is not) a free subject of thought or action
(1995:8889). Seen at this level, tourism marketing is one of the many
forms of Third World representation that, in sometimes subtle but
nonetheless serious ways, serves to maintain and reinforce colonial discourse and the power relations and ideology it fosters. At a more tangible level, these images move beyond the domains of tourism into
different spheres of policymaking where the Orient, by virtue of its
unchangeability is also regarded as being incapable of keeping up with
the times and thus constantly in need of Western assistance and control.
The Myth of the Unrestrained. While the myth of the Unchanged
focuses on legendary lands, the myth of the unrestrained takes the
tourist to the luxuriant lands of the sea/sand destinations (such as
Cuba, Fiji, and Jamaica). As the middle column of Table 1 illustrates,
these are places with both very select natural and built attractions: verdant tropical beaches, the best resorts, and serving, entertaining hosts.
Naturally, this surrounding environment entices the tourist to be selfindulgent and sensuous. These characteristic representations are
presented in Figure 2.
The myth of the unrestrained is the overarching theme that affects
all other representations of these Third World countries, whether
referring to natural, built, or host/tourist characteristics. In these destinations, the tourist enters not the opulent past, as in the myth of the
unchanged, but a present paradise. These are places where nature is
pristine and never harsh, where the people are friendly and never
unwilling to cater to every tourist need, and where the resorts offer
amenities to satisfy every sensual desire, whether active or passive.
Unlike the myth of the unchanged, these places are not mystical and
strange, but completely comprehensible and comfortable.
The myth of the unrestrained depicts Third World destinations as
fully available for the indulgent. The tourists (described as sunseekers,
lovers, and sportspersons) expect to have unfettered access to abundant nature, well-equipped amenities, and submissive (be it serving or
smiling) hosts. Whereas the myth of the unchanged perpetuates the
idea of colonial exploration, the myth of the unrestrained, in many
ways, presents a romanticized version of colonial exploitation. This
exploitative aspect of the portrayal of paradise in Third World destinations has already been extensively noted (Britton 1979; Crick 1989;
Dann 1996a; Palmer 1994; Sturma 1999; Wilson 1994).
Britton (1979) takes a critical stance on these themes of paradise.
He notes that [t]he tourism industry continues to portray these places
as paradise, unspoiled, sensuous, or other distortions, presumably
to compensate for the obvious poverty beyond the hotel or sightseeing
bus (Britton 1979:318). Obviously, the aspect of poverty is not conducive to paradise and so must remain absent from the representations. In a similar vein, Dann remarks that one can easily see the
disadvantages of including the raw nature elements of an exotic tropical destination...since if these items were featured, it would be necessary to refer to torrential rain, hurricanes, cockroaches, poisonous
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The appropriate people props are placedsparinglyinto a primordial landscape. These inhabitants are not the ever present smiling, serving, submissive locals who seem to entice the tourist to go native. Nor
are they timeless, simple, stoic peasants scattered around ancient built
settings. Instead, they are people matched to the myth; namely
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Unchanged
Unrestrained
Uncivilized
The
The
The
The
The
Lands of Legend
Past
Significant Silence
Relics
Peasant (Simple/
Stoic)
Explorer into the
Past
Lands of Luxuriance
Present
Soft
Resorts
Pleasant (Serving/
Smiling)
Exploiter into
Paradise
Place
Time
Natural
Built
Host
The Tourist
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hosts are also fertile areas for future research. In addition, alternate
readings of the promotional material from feminist and cultural studies perspectives would provide insight into the complex ways that gender and race are interwoven into colonial discourse. But perhaps most
importantly, attention now needs to be turned to the forms of countercolonial discourse needed to resist these representations.
However, as the means of resistance to colonial discourse are considered, some of the most significant shortcomings of postcolonial
theory are confronted. As noted by Ashcroft et al, the how of resistance
constitutes one of the final stumbling blocks for postcolonial theorists:
[a]ll are agreed, in some sense, that the main problem is how to effect
agency for the postcolonial subject. But the contentious issue of how
this is to be attained remains unresolved (1995:9). In addition, the
issue of who should/can author counter-colonial discourse is perhaps
even more problematic. In one of the most influential pieces of postcolonial writing, Gayatri Spivak (1985) asks the question Can the Subaltern Speak?, suggesting that the most powerless subalterns are often
not ready or able to speak, at least not without the considerable interference of the more powerful. Thus, while it is laudable to suggest
more local participation in order to wrest the control of Third World
representation from First World tourism marketers, postcolonial
theory forewarns of some of the very troublesome issues ahead.
The above points are not made to dissuade further research into
the how and who of counter-colonial discourse in Third World tourism
marketing. Nor are they intended to discredit the usefulness of postcolonial theory in that endeavor. On the contrary, the means of resisting
the Un-myths are critical areas for future study since these representations demean Third World places and people. The writings of postcolonial theorists, especially their efforts towards resistance and counter-colonial forms of discourse, are an invaluable resource that this
future research should draw upon. While this paper does not offer
much insight in this direction, it has introduced postcolonial theory
as a valuable perspective for creating a critical awareness of context.
The uncovering of the myths, and their colonial underpinnings, provides an impetus for investigating change. Now that the current forms
of Third World marketing are better understood, the rather thorny
A
paths to resistance remain to be explored.
AcknowledgementsFunding for this research was provided by the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council of Canada.
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